I'll tell you what, I can give a rat's arse what established bidders think of me. So I didnt have the cash or space to get into this pre-storage wars, so what! Everyone was new at one time or another, don't like it, tough luck!
Hey monkey business, I see you have the same rule of thumb I have, shoot for doubling your money not striking it rich! LOL Yes, I do realize that most units will never pull in $5K like the shows like to lead you to believe!
Well, I think we all have to think about what other bidders think of us. A show of strength is certainly one thing that is valuable when well used in an auction setting; veterans (as an example) often give newcomers a lesson in ecomonics. I for one don't put down newcomers for being new (per se) but when they cop an attitude one way or another they might pay for it.
Running up a "cock-sure" newcomer is the norm in my area. If they can take the loss a few times then they might deserve to continue on and join the ranks. If they're smart enough not to buy stupid they might deserve to continue on and join the ranks, otherwise there are plenty of "wanna-be's" they can commisserate with.
There are a fair number of folks on these threads who make a "blaze" with "failure is not an option" comments, etc, and three months later you never hear from them again. Sure, maybe they're counting their profits, but more than likely they are licking their wounds.
The lookey-loo is different than the person who wants to become a regular and make a living at buying and selling through the storage auction process. The person who throws money at a locker just to win one is making a mistake no doubt and being cautious about how one spends is a good indicator of how long one will be around to keep spending.